KAPLAN FIRED FROM RADIO SHOW

Host’s remarks about woman draw outrage, leading to dismissal

XX Sports Radio host Scott Kaplan has been fired after making disparaging remarks about a female broadcaster for the Mountain West’s television network.

The station announced Kaplan “has officially left the organization” without giving a reason for his sudden departure. But a station source who was not authorized to discuss the matter said Kaplan was fired.

Kaplan’s comments drew outrage after being reported last week in U-T San Diego. On his daily sports talk radio show Jan. 25, Kaplan called Mountain West studio analyst Andrea Lloyd a “beast,” an “animal,” a “monster” and a “sasquatch of a woman.”

Kaplan left to do his show at the Super Bowl in Indianapolis last week as the story was reported in U-T San Diego on Jan. 31. Upon returning from the Super Bowl, he did his last show Monday morning and was fired later in the day.

As a result, Kaplan’s longtime show with former Chargers linebacker Billy Ray Smith is canceled. The station said Smith is “considering future options.” The new morning show, starting Wednesday, will feature longtime San Diego sports radio duo Dave Palet and Jeff Dotseth.

Kaplan and Smith didn’t return calls seeking comment.

An email obtained by U-T San Diego indicated that the station’s general manager, Tex Meyer, had spoken with Kaplan about similar previous remarks.

The email from Meyer was in response to a listener who complained about Kaplan’s comments on Lloyd, a women’s basketball Hall of Famer.

“I want you to know that I have had similar discussions with Scott Kaplan in the past about this subject matter,” Meyer wrote to the listener. “We are sensitive at the station to any derogatory remarks that are made about anyone and don’t tolerate it.”

Meyer apologized to the listener.

Kaplan’s latest remarks were made in a conversation with a caller shortly after 6 a.m. Jan. 25. They lasted for more than six minutes.

Kaplan said, “I think that she is currently a woman. I cannot confirm for you that she has been a woman her entire life. My guess is that at some point she had some form of surgery. Have you seen this chick?”

He later said, “I’ll take Holly Rowe’s giant butt any day on ESPN, compared to this sasquatch that they use.”

Kaplan and Smith have been a morning fixture on San Diego radio for almost 11 years. Depending on the viewpoint of the listener, Kaplan could be funny, wisecracking or offensive, with Smith often laughing at his sidekick’s remarks. Their show had a locker-room banter popular with male sports fans and had frequent references to the physical characteristics of females.

Sometimes it pushed the envelope and became a liability.

Kaplan previously was sued by a woman he called a “skank” on the air when he worked for XTRA Sports 690 in 2001.

The woman sued him and the station’s operator, Clear Channel Broadcasting, for slander, libel and invasion of privacy in 2002.

The case was settled confidentially in 2004.

In that case, the woman had Kaplan’s car towed in October 2001 because it was improperly parked. According to the suit, Kaplan approached her and said, “Do you know who I am? You’ve ruined my day, and I have 80,000 watts over which I can broadcast your name.”

The woman’s husband was listening to Kaplan’s show the next day when Kaplan said the woman’s name and called her a skank.

“I saw what she was wearing to work,” Kaplan said, according to a transcript cited in the lawsuit. “Yeah, I saw. Okay? She was dressed like as if she was supposed to be hot. But instead, she wasn’t hot.”

An official with the network wrote in an email that he was “disgusted” by Kaplan’s remarks and called Meyer to express his concern.

The station’s news release Monday said, “We are making this significant change in our morning programming after very careful consideration and evaluation of several important factors.”